Today In Weather History: August 3, 1970

Hurricane Celia was one of the worst hurricanes to ever hit the Texas coast. It made landfall on August 3, 1970, just north of Corpus Christi with measured sustained winds of 130 mph and wind gusts estimated to 180 mph. The storm had intensified rapidly in the hours before landfall.

The tropical wave that would eventually become Celia passed off the African coast on July 23rd. T reached the Lesser Antilles on July 28th. Passing across the Caribbean, a closed circulation formed near the Cayman Islands on the 30th. Celia crossed the western tip of Cuba as a tropical storm, but began to intensify rapidly as it crossed through the Yucatan Channel. The pressure fell from 990 millibars to 965 millibars in just eight hours. The intensification was reminiscent of Camille.

But the storm weakened, and by the 3rd, with the center of the storm less than 250 miles off the Texas coast, the pressure had risen back to 988 millibars. But the storm began to deepen rapidly again, and throughout the day the central pressure fell 43 millibars to 945 millibars. Twenty six millibars of the drop occurred in nine hours.

Despite the fact that the hurricane passed to the north, Corpus Christi sustained severe damage as microburst winds of 160 mph raked major residential areas for an hour. The city’s downtown area was heavily damaged. Tremendous destruction occurred as 8,950 homes were destroyed. The storm surge at Port Aransas Beach was measured at 9.2 feet above normal. Winds gusted to 89 mph as far inland as Del Rio (150 miles from the coast). The damage in Texas was a record up until that time: $444.9 million. Sixteen lives were lost in Celia, and 466 people were injured..

Celia is significant because of the damage, excellent track forecasts, the two periods of rapid intensification, the heavy damage in the left semicircle of the storm and the tremendous wind streaks that caused tornado like damage.

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